EARLY TENURE CLARIFICATION
(Proposal 20-06)
(Proposal 14-13)
Senate Procedure 709.1.1
Background/Rationale:
Procedure iii in Section 5.6 of the Faculty Handbook conflicts with the Board of Control Policy 6.4 Academic Tenure and Promotion. Procedure iii currently stops the tenure review process in the event a candidate does not have a 2/3 majority vote of the department or school TPR committee in favor of the early tenure. The Board of Control has the authority to grant tenure at Michigan Technological University and the BOC policy establishes the Right to Appeal. The BOC policy does not preclude granting tenure early and makes no mention of alternate procedures for tenure considerations prior to the end of the probationary period. Procedure iii undermines the authority of the BOC to grant or deny tenure and prevents the candidate from appealing a negative decision by the department/school TPR committee.
https://www.admin.mtu.edu/admin/prov/facbook/appi/iapp.htm https://www.admin.mtu.edu/admin/boc/policy/ch6/ch6p4.htm#tenure
Revision:
5.6. Early Tenure
A faculty member may be considered for tenure prior to the mandatory year. Candidates for tenure must meet the same cumulative standards of performance as candidates in their mandatory years. Candidates should consult their chair or school dean and unit TPR committee chair about their chances of successfully achieving early tenure prior to application.
The following procedures are used for early tenure cases:
The candidate begins the early tenure process by submitting a complete promotion application file to the TPR committee of the academic unit.
After the TPR committee completes its review of the early tenure application, the candidate is notified of the committee vote. The candidate then decides whether the process should stop or should continue and the application be submitted to the department chair/school dean.
Once a candidate's application has been forwarded to the department chair/school dean, the process, including appeals, is exactly the same as it is in the mandatory year.
Applicants for early tenure may withdraw their application for early tenure, without prejudice, at any time during the process.
A faculty member is not limited in the number of times he or she may be considered for early tenure by the academic unit's TPR committee. However, beyond the departmental or school TPR committee, a faculty member may go through the early tenure process only once. Thus, a faculty member will receive full tenure consideration (beyond the department or school TPR Committee) at most twice: once prior to the mandatory year and once during the mandatory year. Applications withdrawn by the candidate that have been reviewed at levels beyond the academic unit TPR committee count as a tenure consideration. (Exception: See Sec. 7.3. Duties and Powers of the Committee on Academic Tenure, Promotion, and Reappointment)
Proposal 20-06:
Introduced in Senate: 15 February 2006
Revised Version Introduced in Senate: 5 April 2006
Adopted by Senate: 5 April 2006
Approved by Administration: 17 April 2006
Accepted by Faculty Referendum: 9 April 2007
BOC approval not needed: deals with procedures
Proposal 14-13:
Introduced to Senate: 23 January 2013
Approved by Senate: 6 February 2013
Approved by Faculty Referendum: 25% of eligible faculty voted and 61% of those voting
accepted this proposal: 24 April 2013
Approved by Administration: 3 June 2013